I do not own Code Lyoko

Code: Memories

Chapter Two

Unchartered Territory

Cameron stepped out of the bathrooms, toothbrush and toothpaste sticking out of his robe pocket as he toweled his hair dry. Jeremie, Odd and Ulrich were gathered in the hallway, and Jeremie was talking excitedly.

"I came across a restricted access site. It took me most of the night, but I found a deed signed by a Mr. Franz Hopper! Seems like he's the owner."

Cameron rolled his eyes as he arrived at Jeremie's shoulder, "Which you would have known had you decided to ask me instead of hack into my files. Seriously Jeremie, it took me weeks to set those firewalls up, and you had to go and stick your nose in where you don't belong. You know, one of these days, something is going to bite it. And it won't be Kiwi."

Odd frowned, "Well yeah, but he had a passage into the sewers in his backyard, he must have something to do with Lyoko!"

Jeremie nodded, "Exactly, so I did a search on him, and he was a -"

"Science teacher here at Kadic?" Cameron raised an eyebrow as he cut Jeremie off, "Yes, you could have just asked me. Again. Are you done investigating my father behind my back, or do you plan on looking up my adoption papers as well?"

Jeremie stuttered, "W-well I, I mean you don't really talk about him much, I didn't think that-"

Cameron frowned, "Then don't think about something like this Jeremie, if there's something you want to know, and it concerns me, just ask. If I can't answer it, then we'll go and do some research. You know, between friends, there's this whole trust thing that involves being honest and not looking up people's adoptive parents and searching for deeds to their house without telling them first?"

Jeremie turned red and looked down, "Sorry Cameron, I really will ask next time."

Cameron sighed and patted his shoulder, "It's fine, what's done is done. Just ask next time, and maybe you'll be able to sleep for a few hours." He moved past the group, then turned back around, "Plus, now we're even for the time I hacked into your computer to find out about Lyoko." He grinned, then slipped into their room before Jeremie could formulate a reply.

()()()()

A few minutes after Cameron left the others, he heard a series of shouts coming from the boy's bathroom. He yanked a shirt on and stepped back out, and felt his 'good day' vibes go right down the drain as he saw Sissi standing across from Aelita, Odd and Ulrich.

He moved to his 'cousin's side as Sissi finished talking, "I guess she'll just have to adapt. It's a jungle out there."

Odd grinned, "You can say that again! I'm looking at a big baboon right now!"

Cameron rolled his eyes, "I'm pretty sure that baboons are both better looking and have better manners Odd. Maybe a giant leech?"

Sissi turned red and whirled away, stalking angrily down the corridor as Cameron's glare burned holes in her back. He glanced over at Aelita and nudged her shoulder, "Don't mind Sissi, she's just mad because you get to hang out with Ulrich and she can't."

Odd nodded, and turned to head back into the showers, "Sissi's a real brat. I can't believe you actually kissed her once Ulrich."

Ulrich's reply was muffled by the door, and Cameron jerked his head towards the door, "You should probably get going Aelita. I have a few more things to get together, but we'll see you in the courtyard, 'kay?"

Aelita nodded, "Alright."

()()()()

The group assembled in the courtyard, and Jeremie began to talk as Yumi arrived, "So, I did a little research last night on Franz Hopper, got my head chewed off by Cameron this morning for not asking him about his family and subsequently breaking through weeks worth of his firewalls in a few hours, and found out that Franz Hopper was also a teacher here at Kadic!"

Yumi glanced at Cameron, "So, Franz the teacher and Franz the owner of the - no offense - creepy house in the woods are the same person?"

Cameron bristled at the slight on his house, "Hey! It was only creepy because Xana possesed everything in it! It's a perfectly normal house otherwise! And yes, my dad did teach science here at Kadic for a while."

Jeremie nodded, "So, I thought it might be worth our while to go and take a look at the Hermitage. If it's okay with you, Cameron."

Cameron nodded, and Aelita perked up at the thought of something to do, "I'll go with you guys!"

Jeremie shook his head, "Probably not the best idea. You're already in hot water with Jim over the shower thing this morning, if he catches you trying to leave campus, you'll be suspended for sure!"

Aelita deflated slightly, and Odd patted her back, "Don't worry, we'll meet you in the cafeteria as soon as we're done, okay princess?"

Aelita nodded slightly, "Okay."

It was a fairly short walk to the Hermitage when he wasn't using all sorts of side paths to lose possible pursuers like Sissi, or Milly and Tamiya, so it was only a few minutes before he was unlocking the front door to the house. He glanced back at Jeremie, "Alright, you wanted the tour, where do you want to start?"

Jeremie frowned, "How should I know? If Franz had anything to do with Xana, we might find some information about Aelita's virus for a start."

Cameron nodded, "Alright, we should probably start in his study then. If we can't find anything there, we can check his bedroom, and branch out from there."

The others nodded, and Cameron led the way to the office of the house, which had almost as many books as the school library piled inside. He had moved all the books in the house to the study a few months back, and now Cameron lost himself among the shelves, his fingers perusing anything that may have been a journal, or a science notebook where Franz may have written anything down.

Around a quarter of an hour passed before he heard Jeremie, "Hey, guys! I think I might have found something!"

The three boys made their way to Jeremie, who was blowing the dust off of the cover of an old book. Cameron grinned sheepishly at the sight of the dust, "Uh, I never really thought that the books would need dusting when they were on the shelves?"

Jeremie shook his head as Ulrich peered at the book's title, "The . . . tunic wars?"

Cameron leaned over Jeremie's shoulder, "I don't remember that one."

Jeremie sighed, "Punic wars, between the Romans and the Carthagenians?" He raised an eyebrow at their blank looks, "Don't you two remember anything from History? We studied this last -" the group's genius realized just who he was talking to, and sighed, "Never mind. Anyway, a history book amidst physics and who knows how many other science books caught my eye."

Cameron wracked his brain for a moment, "ninety . . . three, other books on that particular shelf I think?" He shrugged as incredulous stares turned his way, "What? Eight shelves, maybe eleven or twelve books per shelf, and minus one for the one Jeremie's holding. Should be pretty close."

Jeremie shook his head and cracked the book open, letting out a whistle as he saw the scribbled annotations, "See all these notes? Franz must have been the one to write them."

Cameron chuckled, "No, Jeremie, I wrote all those." He rolled his eyes as the blond raised an eyebrow at him, "For the love of everything Jeremie, you've known me for a good two years, when will you learn about sarcasm?"

Jeremie looked back at the book, "When I figure out a way to beat Xana."

"So in another what, year?"

"Hopefully it won't take that long."

()()()()

As the four of them headed back for the dorms, Cameron caught a flash of pink out of the corner of his eye. He stopped suddenly, and the other three turned back to look at him. Cameron shook his head, "I think I forgot my keys at the Hermitage, cover for me in class in case I'm not back by then will you?"

He ran back towards the old house, hanging a right when the others were out of sight and heading for the manhole leading to their skateboards. As he clambered down the ladder and jumped the last couple rungs, he let out a tired sigh, as his eyes noted one scooter missing from amidst the rest of the vehicles.

The sound of wheels echoed through the sewer tunnels as Cameron set his skateboard in motion, rolling quickly towards the factory. His features were drawn tight with worry, and he wondered what Aelita might be thinking, headed for the factory the way she was. Several possibilities came to mind, but he decided that he could handle whatever it was without dragging the others into it. If it turned out that she'd learned a tower had activated and they hadn't received warning texts for some reason, then he would send out messages via the supercomputer. If not, he would either bring Aelita back or go to Lyoko and keep her safe until Jeremie and the others arrived.

()()()()

Cameron vaulted into the Computer chair, and his fingers flew across the keyboard. A moment later, Lyoko appeared on the holosphere, and Aelita's marker popped up on the screen. Cameron hit the arm of the chair, "Aelita! What are you doing? Don't you know it's way too dangerous to go to Lyoko by yourself?"

Her voice sounded weary over the speakers, "I'm sorry Cameron, it's just, I wanted some semblance of normality, and to me, the school just isn't that. And I was all alone because none of you showed up in the lunchroom, and then Sissi showed up, and I just couldn't take it any longer."

Cameron sighed, "No, no, don't apologize Aelita, this isn't your fault. We should have been there for you and we weren't. I'm sorry." He zoomed out until he could see a tower, "All right, there's a neutral tower to your northwest. Head over, and I can bring you in." He started to lean back, but a new series of markers caught his eye, "Wait! No! Don't go that way, there are a bunch of Bloks there. Head the opposite direction, I'll program the OverRide and come get you. For now, find a safe place to hide nearby."

Cameron's fingers flew across the screen, and his vehicle popped up, materializing on Lyoko. Another short set of codes sent a warning message to Jeremie, and then he set coordinates to virtualize next to his vehicle, then jumped out of the chair and ran for the scanners. Racing down the ladder, he barely got into his scanner before it closed, let the supercomputer perform the stretchy two-places-at-once feeling that preceded falling onto Lyoko.

()()()()

Cameron snapped his fingers as he fell, and the OverRide slid over a couple feet to catch him. It shot forward as he leaned slightly, and he guided it towards the last place he'd seen Aelita. He raced around a corner and almost ran Aelita over, barely swerving to the side to avoid her. looping back around and stopping next to her, he extended a hand "Sorry about that princess, your carriage awaits."

Aelita jumped up behind him and set her hands on his waist, holding tight as the OverRide shot forward, away from the Bloks behind them.

The two of them weaved between the trees, and Aelita shrieked as Cameron whipped under a branch close enough to feel it brush just above their heads. Cameron laughed as she clung to his waist, "Sorry Princess! Didn't know you don't like roller coasters!"

He spotted a tower through the trees, and started to loop around to head towards it, then jerked to the side to avoid a volley of lasers courtesy of a swarm of Hornets. Cameron gritted his teeth, "using knockoffs of my own robots to smash me isn't nice Xana."

He looped around, speeding away from the swarm. If it were more Bloks, he could have just used Guardian to make a hemisphere in front of them and had Aelita jump into the tower as they went by, but Hornets would just fly right around the shield and devirtualize them both. The OverRide weaved back and forth, racing between trees close enough for some of the hornets tailing them to run into said trees.

The chase progressed slowly, and Cameron gradually lost track of how long it had been since he'd virtualized himself, and had no clue exactly how long Aelita had been on Lyoko. It shouldn't have taken so long for Jeremie and the others to figure out something was wrong and come after them. A laser whistled by his ear, and Aelita cried out as one hit her in the shoulder. Cameron gritted his teeth and spun the OverRide around, leaning back slightly to ensure that it kept going. He gave his coin a bit of a flip and caught it before they could leave it behind, then called back to Aelita, "Turn around and keep going! You need to direct our path!"

Aelita nodded, "I'm right here you know, you don't need to yell in my ears."

Cameron grimaced and whirled the javelin between them and the Hornets, deflecting a volley of lasers, "Oh just make sure we don't run into a tree will you?"

The OverRide tilted slightly, and a tree whipped past, giving Cameron some reason to smile. His smile was wiped from his face as the Hornets chasing them continued to fire, one slipping past his guard and slamming into his shoulder. He tossed the javelin slightly, swapping it for the bow before drawing an arrow and firing into the swarm. The trio of hornets flew out of the path of his arrows, pausing slightly in their attack long enough for him to draw breath.

As the next volley of lasers came in, he let the breath out, "Hypercounter!"

The world froze as the lasers drew near, and Cameron calmly drew an arrow back, loosing and firing again, repeating the action as time crawled past, as if it were a slug dipped in molasses. He let himself smile as he loosed his third arrow, "Too much like Target Practice."

Color returned to the world, and Cameron yelped as the lasers flew past them. One caught him in the knee, causing him to stagger slightly and almost overturn the OverRide. The Hornets exploded, and Aelita glanced back, "You alright?"

Cameron let out a breath of energy and took a moment to add up his probable life points, "Let's see, one shot to the shoulder, another to the knee, about ten points each. Take another ten for HyperCounter, I've probably got around sixty or seventy points left, I'll be fine."

Aelita brought the OverRide down, and Cameron glanced back to see why she was stopping. He blinked in surprise, "Whoa."

An unending expanse of the Digital Void stretched out before them. Cameron let out a long whistle, "I'll give you twenty bucks if you jump." Aelita looked at him in shock, and he raised his hands defensively, "Joking Aelita, just joking."

Aelita looked back at the void with trepidation, "Okay, just had to make sure."

The sound of robotic legs reached their ears, and they whirled, Cameron raising his bow and nocking another arrow. A squad of Bloks came crawling around the corner, saw them, and promptly retreated back around the corner. Cameron frowned and lowered his bow, "Well that was -"

He was cut off as a field of white covered his vision. For a moment, he panicked, then felt Aelita's hand slip into his. A moment later, his stomach was left behind as they were jerked forward, and he dropped to his knees, letting go of Aelita's hand and covering his mouth with both of his. Several minutes seemed to pass, and their movement finally slowed, finally coming to a stop after spinning around and around at about a million miles an hour.

The white field lifted, and Cameron remained on his knees, gagging and retching slightly, thankful that he couldn't vomit on Lyoko. His stomach slowly caught up with them, and he pushed himself to his feet, "That was . . . unpleasant."

Aelita raised an eyebrow, "I thought you liked roller coasters?"

Cameron smiled wryly and chuckled, "Don't quote me at me! That was way worse than what I was doing."

Aelita looked around, "Do you know where we are? I've never seen anywhere like this before."

Cameron glanced around as well, "Neither have I, which tells me that we probably shouldn't go anywhere."

The dome around them stopped spinning, and a shaft of light descended, making a hallway. The two of them shared a glance, and Cameron smirked, "Race you."

Aelita pretended to consider for a moment, then bolted for the hallway before he could react. He laughed and sprinted to catch up, reaching her at the end of the hallway before the wall opened up to reveal a long set of stairs leading slightly down. They ran down the hallway, and Cameron's nerves went on edge as they entered a room bigger than any he'd ever seen. He reached into his pouch and felt around for his coin, and his face went pale as he realized he'd dropped it when the field of white had dropped over his vision. He turned back towards the hallway they'd come down, but his eyes went wide and he backed up, "Aelita, we shouldn't have come here."

A pair of giant slug . . . things, blocked the route back. A glance around the room showed another four crawling out of the blue walls and surrounding them.

Aelita glanced at him, "Can't you just shoot them?"

Cameron nodded towards the pouch, and turned it inside out to show its emptiness, "'fraid I dropped my coin when we were picked up. I've got no weapons. Even if I did, Six against two isn't good odds when I have to defend you as well."

Aelita looked back towards the encroaching slugs, "Then what do we do?"

The slugs crawled forwards on all sides, and Cameron glanced to Aelita, "We go out on a limb. Take a seat, as close to me as you possibly can." He sat down himself, crossing his legs and setting his hands to his knees. The slugs looked at each other, probably not certain what he had in mind. He was dimly aware of Aelita sitting back to back with him, and his brow furrowed. "Guardian." He muttered, and the silver aura sprang up around his body. After a long moment of concentration, the aura shifted, then leached from his body and into the floor. From there, it slowly rose up to enclose the two teenagers in a dome of silver light, blocking out the outside world. Cameron let out a tired sigh, "That should protect us long enough for the others to get here. I haven't tried stretching it out that far before, so we're lucky it worked." He let his head fall back just as Aelita did the same, and the two of them let out a startled "Ow!" as their heads smacked against each other. Cameron took a moment to regain his concentration when the dome around them flickered, then rubbed the back of his head, "Sorry about that. My bad."

Aelita smiled and slid down a little, letting her head fall against his back as she looked through the semitransparent silver dome, "Its okay. It was my fault as well." She sighed, "We wouldn't be in this situation if not for me."
Cameron laughed softly, "Oh it isn't your fault, blame Sissi for being Sissi and us for not being there when we should have." He looked out through the dome, "Jeremie? Are you there yet?"

For a moment, there was nothing, then, a slightly muffled and staticy reply came through the dome, "I can h-r you -ust fine. W-'s wrong? I can- see y- an-ere."

Cameron frowned, and he twisted around to glance at Aelita, "Did you understand what he was saying?"

Aelita nodded, "Some of it. So it was all messed up for you too?"

Cameron nodded, "Yeah. It must be the dome interfering with the communications." He raised his voice, "Jeremie! You might be able to see some sort of weird dome thing on your screens, can you see it?"

"Yeah, - can see -."

Cameron nodded, "Good, that's where we are. Have you sent the cavalry yet?"

"The-e on the- way."

Before Cameron could respond, a volley of lasers slammed into the dome surrounding them. One side of Cameron's mouth rose in a smirk as the slugs continued firing ineffectively, "Go ahead and shoot all you want you big creepy-crawlies. You can't get in here that easily."

The barrage of lasers suddenly stopped, and the Slugs outside began to withdraw as something new walked - no, floated - into the room.

Cameron raised an eyebrow as the jellyfish approached, "I'm not really in the mood for seafood. Are you Aelita?"

The girl had her knees drawn up to her chest, and she shook her head. Cameron smiled as he glanced at her, She looks a lot like Taelia when she does that. He shook his head to focus on the dome as the jellyfish approached, and he frowned, "They've already seen that they can't blast their way through, which Xana should have already known from previous encounters, so what does squidward have up his tentacles?"

'Squidward' rose up above the dome, then moved forwards and floated down to rest on top of it. Its tentacles wrapped loosely around the silver sphere, and then began to pulse with light. With each pulse, the dome flickered slightly, and they could hear Jeremie's panicked voice yelling at the others to hurry up. The dome began to dim slightly, and Cameron glared at the outside world, "Oh no you don't Xana."

He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, providing power to reinforce the dome. Time ticked by, and Cameron started to feel the strain as the jellyfish continued to drain the power from the dome as quickly as he replenished it. Finally, he ran out of energy, and the dome shattered into billions of particles of light, gently floating to the ground as Cameron swayed, then slumped, sprawling out on his side. The jellyfish looped a tentacle around his ankle and flung him to the far side of the room, and the monsters turned their attention away from him as he fell to the ground near the entrance.

A long moment passed, and three pairs of feet flashed by his vision. Yumi and Odd targeted the slugs while Ulrich ran for the monster holding Aelita, cutting through its tentacles and driving it away from the girl. Jeremie said something that Cameron couldn't understand, and his head lolled to the side as darkness claimed his vision.

()()()()

"Cameron! Wake up already will you!"

Cameron's eyes cracked open, and four relieved faces let out sighs in front of him. Ulrich helped him to his feet, "You had us worried there for a minute buddy. You feeling okay?"

Cameron grinned ruefully, "Yeah, I'll be fine. Just used up way too much energy trying to keep Guardian going long enough for you guys to get here." He stumbled slightly, then sat down hard, "Speaking of which, what took you guys so long?"

Odd shrugged, "We didn't realize you guys were gone until science class, and Jeremie, Ulrich and I were held up a bit trying to get out because your message set Jeremie's phone off and Ms. Hertz heard it. Yumi was at the pool, and she beat us here, but without knowing how to virtualize herself, she couldn't do anything."

Aelita looked down, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have gone back on my own like that, I messed everything up for you guys."

Yumi shook her head, "Hey, we're all friends, if one of us needs some help, then we all do our best to provide that help. It's just how we humans are."

Cameron nodded, then checked his pouch again, "By the way, did anyone grab my bow? It should have been on the edge of the sector where . . . whatever the heck was that grabbed us did so."

Odd nodded, "I flipped it about a million times too, do you know which side turns into which weapon?"

Cameron shrugged, "No clue, I never have time to check. It's always turning into something six or seven feet tall when I catch it."

Jeremie's voice echoed over the speakers, "Well, if you guys are finished, maybe we should get back before we're missed? Someone will check the infirmary for me eventually, and then they'll wonder where Odd and Ulrich went. In fact, Cameron and Aelita are the only ones excused from class."

Cameron frowned, "Say what now? When did I get excused?"

"When we told Ms. Hertz that you were probably out looking for Aelita, after Sissi let everyone know how the beloved daughter of the principal had treated the new girl." Odd shrugged, "It was pretty easy to convince Ms. Hertz to give the two of you passes until further notice."
Cameron raised an eyebrow, "Really?"

Ulrich shook his head, "No. But we managed, eventually."

()()()()

Cameron sat back against the wall, his hands linked behind his head. Aelita sat next to him, with Odd on her far side as Yumi and Ulrich perched on Jeremie's bed. Jeremie himself was sitting on his computer chair, arms folded over the back and his head resting on them. Odd was in the midst of describing their epic journey, "You should have seen it Jeremie. There were all these creepy things around the room, Cameron was unconscious, so he wasn't much help, and in the middle of the room there was a giant squid holding Aelita!"

Kiwi growled as Aelita rubbed her temples, "Can you imagine that thing was stealing my memory?"

Jeremie shrugged, "Well, Xana wants to get something out of you, that's pretty clear. The question is; what is it?"

Ulrich grinned, "I can't wait to go back to the Fifth Sector. There's so much to explore there!"

Cameron raised a hand, "I object your honor, the trip alone is enough to deter me, not to mention that the squid thing could drain my until-now invulnerable Guardian Aura as easily as Odd drains a soda. I would rather not risk it."

Yumi shrugged, "I'll go with you Ulrich. It'll be totally awesome."

Jeremie raised both of his hands to cut them off there, "Not so fast! I have to study it first, or else it's way too dangerous. For now, it's uncharted territory."

Aelita spoke up, "Um, you guys aren't angry at me for going to Lyoko by myself, are you? I don't know what got into me, I just needed to-"

Jeremie stopped her with a raised hand, "You don't have to explain Aelita. We understand, and we're not angry at all."

Cameron nodded, "If anything, it's our fault for not being there for you when you needed us. We shouldn't have left you behind the way we did." He set a hand on her shoulder, "We'll spend more time together from now on. You might just get sick of me!"

Odd raised a determined fist, "Yeah! And I'll teach you plenty of ways to tell Sissi to go to -"

"Odd!"

He was cut off by the girl in question, who pointed at Kiwi, "Do you know what you're little mutt did in the shower?" Her gaze fell on Aelita as Odd's teeth ground together, "Oh, so you finally found Mrs. Einstein."
Ulrich glared at her, "Yeah, while you were taking your third shower of the day."

Sissi flipped her hair, "Well you know Ulrich dear, a beautiful flower like me needs to be watered often."

Half a dozen sharp retorts instantly sprang to Cameron's mind, and Odd started to get up to tell Sissi off, but Aelita beat him to it, twirling a lock of hair around her finger, "You're right Sissi! You never know, one of these days you might even sprout a brain!"

The group laughed as Sissi turned purple and stormed off, and Cameron gave his cousin a high five, "I think you should give Odd and me lessons Aelita."

Yumi grinned, "She sure learns fast!"

End of Chapter Two

I hope you guys like it! Feel free to leave a review with your thoughts, regardless of what they may be!

Thank you to I Heart Lyoko, BreadLoaf, and Michael for leaving the kind reviews you did!

Keep Writing, Keep Rocking!

Undeadmonkey8